Denver police Chief Ron Thomas said Friday that he refused a second request from officials at the Auraria Campus to clear pro-Palestine demonstrators from an encampment after police arrested 45 people in a tense sweep of the site last week — and said there is currently “no legal way” for officers to dismantle the demonstration.

Students who are occupying Denver's Auraria Campus quad to protest the war in Gaza rejected an offer from their schools. The offer would have donated thousands of dollars to the International Red Cross if they had taken down the tents.

Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas was grilled by members of the Citizen Oversight Board on Friday morning, resulting in the chief telling the board he refused to sweep the pro-Palestine protest encampment from the Auraria Campus a second time.

Denver police won't sweep the growing pro-Palestinian encampment at the Auraria Campus as long as it remains peaceful, chief Ron Thomas told a civilian watchdog group on Friday. Why it matters: The chief's statements show a changing strategy for the agency,